Posted by Q (198.64.206.92) on October 09, 2000 at 23:47:44:
In Reply to: Graham, Q, August... it's update time... posted by pinksharkmark on October 09, 2000 at 12:26:53:
To the files.
Please refer to previous reports, all with the subject headings "Progress Report --". This report is an update to that series.
In a word, the treatment has been a miracle. Late last week, well into the 3rd week since the initial dose, I had two Kip-level 3 attacks, both of which were easily chased away with O2, standard CH dose.
Last Thursday I prepared a concoction from the original batch of mushrooms. The harvest was dried at room temperature immediately after picking from the field, diced into very small chunks using a food processor, honey added to make a pate-like paste, and the mixture stored in a opaque plastic container in my refrigerator, until last Thursday. In preparing a refresher dose, I thought the honey-marinade would have softened the taste, so I packed the expresso machine with a shot and powered it up. I neatly avoided the explosion due to unbelievable pressure in the expresso machine caused by the honey-shroom mixture clogging the strainer and causing who-knows-how-much steam to build-up. I then took the gold-copper strainer from my regular drip coffee-maker, boiled a kettle of water, and added the hot water to the honey-shroom mixture in the metal coffee filter and allowed the thick outcome to drip into a collection gobblet. The strainer worked very well and the extracted mixture held the substance, but not the particles, in the honey-laden output. It was steaming when I first decanted it through the strainer, but cooled to a warm mead-like consistancy within a few minutes. The sweetness of the honey was an improvement over the raw mixture of a few weeks ago, but it still has that underlying rancid essence, so I still had to hold my nose while I drank it.
The physical effect was liken that of two to three beers, and not at all unpleasant, lasting about 3 hours. I have had no attacks, shadows, or other signs of CH since that 2nd dose and only those minor break-throughs previously mentioned. Am considering home-mycology to have small backlog on-hand as the weather has turned really (record-breaking) cold and this may be the end of this season's harvesting period, although this is Central-Gulf Coast Texas and most people don't even own a decent overcoat, nor need one.
Footnote: I have a 2nd gobblet of the honey-extract sitting on my kitchen counter in the hopes that it will evaproate into a power, as Miguel suggested in his ChemLab 101 primer. I have a feeling that it is going to take a really long time to evaproate honey, so I don't know what to do. It has been there since Thursday week before last, this is Tuesday, and it shows no sign of reducing (or spoiling). How can you tell if something as rancid as psi-shrooms spoils? Any cooking suggestions would be welcome. I am hesitant to pour it out but then I'm a bachelor and no-one asks me what is on my kitchen counter, so it sits and waits inspiration or need.
Sidebar for those in recovery...This is the stuff relapse is made of. I am very grateful that I involved several of my closest friends in the psi-tx as it did stir-up some thoughts and near-compulsions in those first two weeks that might have been more troublesome if the support-group was not on-board with the whole deal. Otherwise, just do the deal and treat it like the medicine that it is.